


Don’t Leave Me Again

by softvxrchie



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Cheating, F/M, Fighting, Fluff, Lots of Angst, Love, Marriage, New Baby, Unplanned Pregnancy, life story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-11-29 09:41:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18221426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softvxrchie/pseuds/softvxrchie
Summary: “Do you not love me anymore?”“Of course I love you!”orArchie and Veronica through-out the years before coming to a disagreement about their baby's life.





	Don’t Leave Me Again

**Author's Note:**

> “Archie and Veronica are adults and Veronica is pregnant. Hiram has been sent to prison and he's been there for 10 years now and they have an argument or disagreement on if Hiram should be in the baby's life and you can throw in some good old fluff and angst if you want.” 
> 
> So this is the prompt, I changed things a little bit so I hope that’s okay. To be honest, it's not what I thought I'd write.
> 
> Thank you so much for the prompt Leah!
> 
> (not completely edited so there may be some mistakes)

_Don’t_ _Leave_   _Me Again_

 

Archie Andrews and Veronica Lodge had been in love since they were sixteen years old, that had never changed. They had fought and yelled and cried and laughed and it was all out of love. Everything they did was out of love. _Everything_. Their love was the strongest force either of them had ever felt.

 

•°•°•

 

 _Sixteen_.

 

Sixteen was when they first met, sixteen was when he made eye contact with a beautiful raven haired princess for the first time. Sixteen was when he was so blinded by her presence, he struggled to focus on anything else.

 

He couldn’t have her when they were sixteen, so he waited until he could. He would have waited decades for her.

 

_Sixteen was good, but it could have been better._

 

•°•°•

 

 _Seventeen_.

 

Seventeen was when he fell in love with her bold, hazel eyes and her gorgeous smile. Seventeen was when he knew he needed her in his life, knew he couldn’t let this girl go. But they couldn’t be with each other, their friendship was too important

 

But seventeen is when they shared their first kiss. It came out of nowhere, neither of them knowing what to do once their lips touched, neither of them knowing what the feeling that was running through their boldies was. They stood and felt each other for what felt like centuries but eventually they pulled away, and never spoke of the moment.

 

He watched her drift away and there was nothing he could do, he loved her too much. So he watched her fall in love with his best friend.

 

_Seventeen_ _broke his heart._

 

•°•°•

 

_Eighteen._

 

Eighteen was when he finally tried to move on, it’s when he tried to love someone who wasn’t her, someone who wanted him back.

 

Eighteen is when she told him she loved him before leaving for New York, before she left him behind in Riverdale.

 

Eighteen was when her father tried to kill him after he confessed his love for her in front of hundreds of people.  Hundreds of people who were ecstatic for their young love, except for man, the man that meant more than anything to the girl he loved.

 

Nobody could love his daughter. Love was too dangerous.

 

But she loved him. She was _in love_   with him. But to make things worse, her father had just been arrested and she couldn’t go there with him, she could not love him and keep him safe at the same time.

 

Her father was _bad_.

 

_Eighteen is when they went their own ways._

 

•°•°•

 

_Nineteen._

 

Nineteen was when he chased her, chased her to New York and told her how he felt. Told her how his heart ached every morning when he woke up to have dreamt her by his side.

 

Nineteen is when they made love for the first time - all night, may he add. Passionate, sweet love that would stay with them _forever_. It was also when they said their goodbyes, before she told him the truth.

 

 _She loved somebody else._

 

Or so she said, he wasn’t stupid, he knew she was trying to save him from pain but nothing hurt him more than seeing her with _Jughead Jones_. He needed her, but she didn’t need him.

 

The sex was a goodbye and he had finally realised that. She was saying goodbye.

 

 _Nineteen was when he finally let go_.

 

•°•°•

 

_Twenty._

 

Twenty was when she came to him in tears, _Jughead was in love with Betty_. The truth hurt but their relationship was based off lies. He loved her and she loved him.

 

Twenty was when she was finally let herself _be_ _with_ him, let herself _feel_ him, let herself _love_ him.

 

Twenty was when they made things official and when they let the world know how much they love each other.

 

Twenty was when they let themselves be everything they wanted to be.

 

_Twenty was when their lives were perfect._

 

•°•°•

 

_Twenty-One._

 

Twenty-One was when they thrived. They thrived day and night, fighting their way through life together.

 

Twenty-One was when nothing could get in their path, nothing could break them apart.

 

_Nothing._

 

_Twenty-One is when nothing could get in the way of their love._

 

•°•°•

 

_Twenty-Two._

 

Twenty-Two was their best year. It was when they moved in together and after all the years of fighting and hurting, he finally asked for her hand in marriage. She cried harder than she ever had when he got down on one knee in the middle of night as they were walking along a beach.

 

He hadn’t planned it, it has just felt right and not once did he regret it. She had screamed yes to him, jumping into his arms and grabbing his face, pushing her lips against his in a hurry.

 

Their love was stronger than ever.

 

The love they had made that night was the most passionate thing either one of them had ever felt, they were both aching by the morning.

 

_ Twenty-Two was incredible. _

 

•°•°•

 

_Twenty-Three._

 

Twenty-Three was when they had their first real fight. It was over something ridiculous but she ended up staying with her mom for a few days while he sulked with her.

 

_She had worn his favourite shirt._

 

She did it often - wore his clothes, normally when she needed comfort and he wasn’t there to cuddle her. That day was no different.

 

Except it was.

 

It was the day his mom had left him and his dad, never returning again. She had known it was coming up but somehow she had let it slip from her mind and now she felt _awful_. He was hurting and she wasn’t there for him.

 

_Archiekins, I’m so sorry._

 

The words she had said to him two days after, pulling him into her before they made soft love to each other on their couch, kissing and touching places only they got to see. Sex was their way of communicating with each other when words weren't spoken.

 

Nothing could break their love.

 

_ Twenty-Three was difficult, but they pulled through. _

 

•°•°•

 

_Twenty-Four._

 

Twenty-Four was when they finally tied the knot, it was when they were legally each other’s. Their wedding was perfect, it was small (surprising for her) and cosy, only the people they loved were there and it’s all they could have wanted.

 

Twenty-Four was when they had sex every day for a week because they could, they were completely alone when they got away to Italy for their honeymoon.

 

Twenty-Four was _incredible._

 

Incredible until Fred Andrews passed away. It had been unexpected and heartbreaking for both his son and his daughter-in-law. Life had taken a brilliant and wonderful man from his family and friends too early.

 

_Twenty-Four broke them._

 

•°•°•

 

_Twenty-Five._

 

Twenty-Five was an average year. It was the year where they got to experience marriage, the good time and the bad times. Whatever happened, they got through it. Together.

 

But twenty-five was also a time where they had to figure out how to live without Fred Andrews by their sides. They thought about him everyday. The most wonderful man they had ever known, he would never not miss him.

 

Twenty-Five was when she lied to him about seeing her father in prison. He had made her promise not to see him, not to be apart of his sorry life but it was her _father_. He had been furious when she'd told him, finally sharing the truth. It had been _three years_ and he hadn't known. How could she?

 

What else had she lied about?

 

_Twenty-Five was average._

 

•°•°•

 

_Twenty-Six._

 

Twenty-six was when things got hard. They had been married for two years, and their love was still strong, but they were fighting more. They couldn’t figure out what the problem was so they continued to live their lives, but they knew they were losing what they had.

 

Losing the love that had been so strong.

 

He was sleeping on the couch more and their intimate life became a chore. It just wasn’t them. He was out with friends more and she was eating alone more, they didn't want to spend their time together anymore. _It was not them._

 

But they fought through it and they stayed together because they knew they couldn’t be themselves without each other.

 

_Twenty-Six was tough._

•°•°•

 

_Twenty-Seven._

 

Twenty-Seven was when they were mad at each other more than they were happy. 

 

Twenty-Seven was when he kissed another woman because their love got complicated.

 

They screamed and yelled and cried and she tried to forgive him because he forgave her for her mistakes but how could she look at his face, how could she kiss his face when he had left her in the middle of the night to make out with someone who wasn’t her.

 

She kicked him out, told him not to come back until he could tell her why. Why he had done it.

 

_Do you not love me anymore?_

_Of course I love you!_

 

He had screamed it at her, tears pouring down both of their faces. They stood and stared, before crashing their lips against each others as he took her against the wall and made her scream some more.

 

Only this time she was calling out his name as he made her feel things she hadn’t felt in weeks.

 

_Twenty-Seven was when she asked him to leave and he refused._

_Twenty-Seven was when she forgave him and regretted it._

 

•°•°•

 

 _Twenty-Eight._

 

Twenty-Eight was when they fell apart. For good this time. They had fought and fought, knowing their love wasn’t strong enough anymore.

 

Twenty-Eight was when she asked him to leave and _he did_ , he had moved on before she could count to ten.

 

They decided to take a break, they hadn’t even divorced, she was still Mrs Archibald Andrews, yet he had moved on like she meant nothing. Josie McCoy meant more than her.

 

_Twenty-Eight was when she found out she was nine weeks pregnant with his baby._

 

•°•°•

 

The nine months of pregnant went quickly, Veronica had hoped she and Archie would have rekindled for their baby’s sake but as she grew more pregnant, they grew further apart.

 

Archie had moved on quickly, it was like they had no story together. He had just moved on to another woman, and it wasn’t just any woman.

 

Josie McCoy.

 

Veronica had never had a problem with Josie, they had done plenty of duets together back in high school but then the bitch stole her husband and was trying to be a mother to her son.

 

Frederick Arthur Andrews-Lodge had been born on a late Tuesday morning in the spring. Veronica had screamed and cried and Archie had been there for her, holding her hand as she gave birth to their son.

 

Frederick had screamed his way into the world with his parents both crying too. Archie had never seen anything so beautiful.

 

His wife and son together. Except, she wouldn’t be his wife for much longer. He didn’t want to keep her waiting, they just weren’t good for each other any more.

 

•°•°•

 

With Archie not living in the apartment anymore, he had only stayed for a couple days to help Veronica with the baby before she had asked him to go home. She had promised he’d could see Frederick whenever he wanted but they just couldn’t live together, not if he was with another woman.

 

With Archie not there to help all the time - though he tried to be there whenever he could but Veronica made it hard for him, - Hermione Lodge had offered to stay over and help her daughter with her baby grandson, she had only stayed for three days before her boyfriend-of-the-week called and she left.

 

•°•°•

 

It had been two weeks since Frederick’s birth and Veronica was getting herself and the baby ready to go and visit her father in jail.

 

There was only one time a year Veronica went to visit Hiram and that was on his birthday. Considering little Fred was his grandson, Veronica felt like Hiram deserved to meet him, no matter what he had done. So here she was, taking her baby to a jail to meet his grandfather on his birthday.

 

Or that’s what she was trying to do.

 

Just as she grabbed the diaper bag and Frederick in his carrier, a familiar knock filled her ears.

 

Veronica huffed before putting Frederick down so she could open the door. She wasn’t expecting the sight that was now in front of her.

 

Archie Andrews and Josie McCoy.

 

They stood there for a while, nobody knowing what to say. Archie had clearly seen that Veronica was trying to leave and she had texted him not to come over because she was going out.

 

She just hadn’t told him where she was taking their baby.

 

“Hey, Ronnie.” Archie smiled, his girlfriend following suit. “We’re here to get Frederick.”

 

Veronica kept a straight face before she opened the door wider to invite the couple inside. “Didn’t you get my text?”

 

Archie and Josie walked inside, Archie going straight to his son, unbuckling him and pulling him out of the carrier while Josie stood and smiled as she watched her boyfriend with his son.

 

“Hey Fred.” Archie cooed to his son. Veronica stood silently, feeling extremely awkward in the situation. “Sorry, I didn’t get your text.”

 

“Why not?”

 

“I must have forgotten to check.” Archie explained, Frederick began to fuss in his arms, the little boy getting tired.

 

Veronica sighed before taking the baby off his dad, she had just gotten him off to sleep and now she was going to have a fussy baby.

 

“He was asleep Archie!” Veronica almost growled, patting Fred’s back to get him back to sleep. “If you had checked your messages, you would have known that I have somewhere to be.”

 

Archie’s smile disappeared as he heard the words, he hadn’t seen his little boy in days and how he was being turned away again.

 

He wanted to scream.

 

“You said I could have him today, we made plans.” Archie sighed, running a hand down his face. It was always a battle with Veronica.

Maybe a divorce was a good idea after all.

 

Veronica let out a sarcastic laugh. “You made plans with your girlfriend, do them without him.”

 

“I’m just going to go wait in the car, Arch. Tell Freddie I love him.” Josie sweetly stated, making Veronica more frustrated.

 

“His name is Frederick.” Veronica spat with no regret. Was she acting childish? Yes, probably but she didn’t care. Her husband was shacking up with somebody that wasn’t her and that made her feel too many feelings. She hated it. “Just leave, Archie.”

 

Archie looked like he wanted to shout and cry. He wanted things to go back to them being friends, he would never stop loving her but there time was over and he wasn’t going to fight her anymore.

 

Or so he thought.

 

After moments of silence, Archie figures his ex-lover wasn’t planning on starting the conversation so he did. He was planning on asking her where she was heading in such a rush before his eyes met a birthday gift addressed to Hiram Lodge.

 

His eyes froze as he realised where she was going. Was she crazy? There was no way she was taking their son to a jail.

 

“No way.”

 

She knew by those two words that he knew.

 

“There is no way you are taking him there!” Archie yelled, not thinking about the sleeping baby in Veronica’s arms. “He tried to have me killed, Veronica, and you want to take my son there?”

 

“He deserves to have a grandfather!” Veronica shouted in reply, waking Frederick once more.

 

Tears began to run down her face, soaking her cheeks whilst her baby son sobbed as-well. Archie walked over and took the crying baby from her arms so she could collect herself, he wasn’t going to have a shouting war with her.

 

“Shh, go back to sleep, Buddy.” Archie whispered, calming the baby so he could put him back into the car seat. “Ronnie, you can’t take him there. He’s deserve better than to be apart of Hiram Lodge’s sad life.”

 

Veronica wiped away her tears, failing to stop them from falling. Seeing how amazing Archie was with the baby made her realise one thing. He was the kind of man Frederick needed in his life, not a criminal.

 

She loved Archie with everything she had, she wanted, needed him in her life but he didn’t need her.

 

He didn’t want her.

 

He didn’t love her.

 

“It’s my father, Archie.” Veronica said, her voice breaking as the words left her mouth. They always said the truth hurts.

 

She just wanted Frederick to have a grandfather, something she never got to have for multiply reasons. Hermione’s father didn’t approve of Hiram so he had disowned his only daughter because he hadn’t gotten his own way. Hiram’s father had been killed by a gang before Veronica had even been born.

 

“Just let me take him. It’s once a year.”

 

“Once a year will become once a month, once a month will become once a week. I don’t want that for him.” Archie explained, his voice sounding pleading. He didn’t want his son their.

 

Veronica ignored him, grabbing the diaper bag again and leaning down to strap Frederick into his carrier. If he wasn’t going to leave, she would.

 

“Don’t ignore me.” Archie growled, grabbing the car seat and placing him down on the couch before he gripped Veronica’s arm to keep her still. Veronica tried to escape from his grip but he was too strong. “Veronica.”

 

“Just let me go!” Veronica screamed, luckily this time, she didn’t wake the poor sleeping baby. “I have nobody Archie!”

 

By the time she had finished the words, Veronica was sobbing. She collapsed against the black leather couch, loud cries echoing throughout the building.

 

Archie’s face softened, why hadn’t she told him she felt that way. She had him, and he felt awful that she didn’t feel like she did, he felt awful that he hadn’t been there for her like he had promised when they got married.

 

Though their divorce was impending.

 

“Ronnie, I thought your mom was helping.” Archie stated, there was no way he wouldn’t have moved out if he had known she’d been by herself. “I wouldn’t have left.”

 

Veronica looked him in the eyes, seeing his sincerity. “She would rather see her new boy-you.” She sniffled.

 

Archie sighed before looking over to his son, the raven-haired, hazel eyed baby was fast asleep, unaware of the pain his mother was in.

 

“You’re not alone.” The redhead mumbled before he placed a hand on her face.

 

How had he let this girl get away?

 

They sat for what felt like hours, Archie’s hand against her damp cheek. There was no way he was leaving her again, Josie would understand - well he hoped, Veronica needed him.

 

_“I’m here for you.”_

_“Don’t leave me again.”_

•°•°•

 

Things with Archie and Josie didn’t last after he moved back in with Veronica, it wasn’t fair to Josie or Archie, even Veronica.

 

The raven-haired girl and the redheaded boy worked towards their marriage for their son, their love had never disappeared and they knew that. They had never stopped loving each other and what they had was worth fighting for.

 

Archie and Veronica Andrews were ready for a life together.

 

Maybe they got married to early, maybe they weren’t ready, maybe they still weren’t. But they were a family, a family who loved each other.

 

_Twenty-Nine was going to be a good year._

_Twenty-Nine was their year._

_the end_

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading, reviews make my day :)
> 
> You can find me on Instagram:  
> @smileyarch_  
> and on Tumblr:  
> @smileyarch
> 
> My DM's are always open :)


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